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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 8 Hansard (7 August) . . Page.. 2448 ..


MR CORBELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, this is a move which the Labor Party will be supporting today. However, I note that the minister has this morning circulated a number of amendments. I received a briefing as late as yesterday on this bill from officers of the minister's department and they did not at that stage raise with me the prospect of government amendments. I am, therefore, somewhat surprised to see these amendments tabled this morning and I do not believe I am in a position to deal with them at this stage of the debate. So I foreshadow, Mr Speaker, that I will move for the detail stage to be dealt with at a later hour this day so that these amendments can be fully considered.

Community title is an interesting concept that will allow for individual leaseholders to develop common land uses in their area. The one concern the Labor Party does have about this legislation is that potentially it will open a loophole for further development on common land, and particularly in relation to single dwellings. Having looked at the legislation, that remains our fear. However, I am assured by the department and by Planing and Land Management that any development application that takes place on these land parcels first of all must happen with the consent of all parties, but secondly it must take place in a way that meets all of the existing requirements of the land act, particularly in relation to notification, appeal rights and the normal development approval process.

That said, Mr Speaker, we are prepared to accept the bill as it currently stands because it does permit the normal range of appeal rights and the normal development approval process to take place. But we will want to be monitoring very carefully that the bill is not used as a backdoor means of encouraging further development of dwellings in relatively small enclosed areas, particularly between adjacent single dwelling blocks.

Mr Speaker, with that reservation, the Labor Party will be supporting this legislation today as it is a scheme which will provide for shared facilities between separate leaseholders, and it is a way of encouraging a better use and utilisation of land, particularly around multi-unit and townhouse-style development.

MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Business, Tourism and the Arts and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (12.01), in reply: Mr Speaker, I thank the Assembly for their support of this very valuable piece of legislation. Schemes in places like New South Wales and Queensland work well. The legislation will make sure that owners and the users around a certain parcel of land may share in a joint or common interest.

Mr Speaker, I foreshadow that I will be moving the amendments that have been circulated. Those amendments follow the scrutiny of bills committee report. As well, we have been working with the ACT Law Society, and they saw the need to amend the bill slightly to make it more effective.

I am not sure why Mr Corbell was not briefed on the amendments, because they have certainly been ready to go for some time now. The government has four amendments. The first amendment clarifies clause 9 by providing that any scheme must be consistent with the act before it can be approved. Clause 67 requires a seller of any lot to provide a statement to a potential buyer of a lot in a community-type titles scheme. The clause provides a protection for a buyer during the selling process so that they are absolutely aware of what it is that they are getting into. We believe that, based on


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